


Extinction

by RedOriole



Category: Naruto
Genre: Akatsuki Hatake Kakashi, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drama, Hatake Kakashi-centric, Identity Issues, M/M, Manipulation, Mental Instability, Team, Travel, what is canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-05-31 14:17:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15121217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedOriole/pseuds/RedOriole
Summary: As trouble steers up in smaller countries, Uzumaki Naruto is summoned back from his travels with Jiraiya. Akatsuki are on a hunt for the jinchuuriki, and with Hatake Kakashi having gone rogue, the world becomes a darker place.Loyalty is one funny concept, it turns out.





	1. Last legs

They try to hold me back to hide the fact that I'm a threat  
My mind's the truth behind the lies and I define what they regret

Hatake Kakashi feels frozen to his very bone. The cold weather numbs the pain in his head, but it doesn't really help the limbs that he loses control over more and more with every minute. He runs through the tree branches and asks himself how big this forest could possibly be. This is all Kakashi can think of: how much longer does he need to run? A sudden burst of chakra from behind reaches his senses, alerting him. How could they come so close already? His pursuers were supposed to follow his shadow clone—unless they decided to split up, of course. If this isn't the case, Kakashi has a chance at getting away with his head attached to his neck. If it is, he's fucked.

The splitting headache starts turning into lightheadedness just as Kakashi smells freshly spilled blood from the direction he's moving in. He uses all his remaining power to surge forward. His left eye closes on its own accord, while the picture in his right eye loses all colors and contrast. He doesn't see anything but the unexpectedly bright red on the cloak of the person he's closing in with. Kakashi jumps on the ground next to them and finally loses his balance. He falls on his side, breathless and unseeing. While his hearing is assaulted by the flow of blood in his ears, he still makes out the sounds of a fight that starts as another pair of boots touches the ground. Kakashi's pursuers have finally caught up with him, bit it seems that he's getting out of this one alive.

Just before his senses give up on him completely, he thinks of the dead man lying not that far from him. Looks like Kakuzu is annoyed to the point of involving himself in a battle—which means that the battle is not going to be pretty. Some part of Kakashi is glad that he's not going to witness the slaughter. The only thing that really matters is the five-tailed beast Kakuzu is bearing within Han's bleeding dry body.

***

His hands are quivering. This can't be true—there's just no way. They must be playing a prank on him, a prank that is absolutely not funny and has no place to be played by friends. Uzumaki Naruto picks up Jiraiya's latest installment in the Icha Icha series. The green book landed on the concrete floor wide open, and Naruto tries to smooth the wrinkled pages. Just like the paper, Naruto's good mood is now completely ruined by this fucking joke.

“Yeah, guys, it's hilarious,” he grumbles, closing the book in hope it'll make the pages look more presentable. “I'm not angry if he's on a mission, I mean no one knew I'll come back today! It's just a bad joke, I get it, now cut it off,” Naruto whines and hides the book in his pocket. Shikamaru gives him a weird look, almost like he doesn't get what's wrong. As if Shikamaru wasn't among those who tried to get Sasuke back home two years ago. _That_ is what's wrong with this joke.

“Naruto, we aren't—,” Sakura attempts to explain, but her words are lost under Ino's loud voice.

“—Tsunade-sama will be absolutely happy to see you! Come-come, Naruto, I'm surprised you aren't on your way already!” Ino proclaims, pushing Naruto towards the Hokage building. All Uzumaki has left to do is wail quietly, baffled at the girl's harsh treatment. Sakura follows them suit and does not comment at how Naruto disrespectfully enters Tsunade's office through the window.

Truth be told, Naruto feels a bit weak in his knees. His hands have stopped shaking, at least, but he himself is still uneasy. Dammit, he'll let them taste his newest techniques as soon as he gets this over with!

Tsunade is unfazed by his sudden appearance in her office. She pushes aside a dangerously tall stack of papers, takes a deep breath, and forces a smile. There's no way she isn't glad to see him, yet Naruto knows that her smile is fake: he's looking for it. His heart drops.

“Where is Kakashi-sensei?” the question leaves his mouth before he can think of anything else. He hears Sakura sigh behind him.

“Brat,” Tsunade makes a pause, her brows furrow. “I'm happy to see you're back in one piece,” she says. As if sensing that Naruto's non-existent patience is wearing thin, she sighs just as Sakura did. It's a tired, sad sigh, one that brings Naruto close to being scandalized.

“What is it, dammit?!” he demands with more force this time. “Did something happen to him?”

“Well, I'm glad you're happy to be back, too,” the Hokage answers. “I didn't want to dump this on you right away, but I see that's not an option,” Tsunade studies him with a thoughtful gaze, glancing at Sakura for a mere second. “Hatake Kakashi is no longer a citizen of the Land of Fire,” she fishes out a small book from under the piles of paper and opens it with one brush of her fingers. She reads out loud, “ _Hatake, Kakashi. S-Rank nukenin_ ,” takes a pause for emphasis, “ _Previous affiliations: Konohagakure_.”

“You can't be serious,” Naruto tells her after some actual consideration. “I mean I get everyone else, but how could you support such a stupid prank!” he cries. He had doubts before, but now knows for sure that even a visit to the Ichiraku won't save this day.

“This isn't a joke,” Tsunade affirms tiredly, handing over the Bingo book. “It happened three months ago. Kakashi lashed out, attacked an ANBU squad. Sent the Nara kid to the hospital for two weeks.”

Naruto's breath is stuck. He stares at Tsunade. Kakashi-sensei couldn't do such a thing, Naruto's mind supplies. He just wouldn't. Kakashi was the one who tried to talk sense into Sasuke when the Uchiha tried to abandon the village. Kakashi's loyalty is unquestionable! He mourned the Third's death alongside others, he taught Naruto and Sakura the importance of teamwork! Kakashi put the safety of his comrades above anything else; is it the same man Tsunade's talking to him about? It just couldn't be him, right?

Naruto lowers his gaze to read the page title. _Kakashi Hatake_ , it says in bold black ink. On the left side is his sensei's photo. Grey, unruly hair; the scarred eye closed, the other appears to be unfocused, lazily staring into the camera. The lower part of his face is masked, but the forehead isn't covered by the hitai-ate. Naruto didn't get to see his sensei without the protector often. In fact, he struggles to remember a single time.

“That's really him,” he mutters.

“Pretty sure I didn't mistake him for someone else either,” Tsunade deadpans and takes the book away. Her hand reaches for the drawer with sake stashed soundly inside. She pours herself a drink, disregarding the possibility of Shizune walking in on her, and gulps it down in one go. Right after the first one follows a second. Only then does she speak again. “I'm sorry it happened, brat. I'm sorry you weren't here. The psych team gave me a full report on Hatake—there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Nothing one could've distinguished as...plotting.”

“He was upset when you left, but that's understandable, right?” Sakura supplies shyly. “I saw him regularly. He even let me use him as a dummy for my healing practice!” the kunoichi finally lets the bottled anguish out, voice so sharp Naruto feels cold sweat appear on his forehead. “I never even noticed anything! Anything at all!” she crosses arms defiantly, but it's sadness, not anger, that shows on her face. Naruto doesn't know what to say.

First Sasuke, now sensei. Are everyone just waiting to pack their stuff and abandon what's most precious to him? Leave the village behind, just like that? Naruto closes his eyes and opens them again a couple of seconds later. Tsunade studies his face warily, but otherwise doesn't let her nervousness show.

“Isn't there anything he left behind? Anything we could use, that can explain this?”

Tsunade shakes her head. “I'm sorry, brat. His old ANBU team checked; there isn't.”

With a knock on the door, Temari and Shikamaru enter the office. Naruto looks at Shikamaru, determined to see the giveaways of the injury that caused him to stay in the hospital. His old friend seems just fine, albeit kind of tired. Come to think of it, Shikamaru always looks tired. Not much has changed here. “Temari! You're here,” he waves at the kunoichi, sending a questioning glance in Tsunade's direction.

The Hokage picks up on this and goes to explain the upcoming Chuunin exam and her own challenge for Naruto and Sakura to show their skills.

***

Kakashi wakes up with a raspy groan in the back of his throat. He opens one eye and looks around, vision a bit blurry. He's in a bed inside a room with no windows. The lights are dimmed, and he's tucked under a blanket. Beside the bed he sees a chair. His clothes smelling of boiled water are folded neatly on the seat.

“Awake at last,” Kakuzu grudges. He leans on the wall behind him, arm crossed over his chest. He isn't wearing his cloak either and appears to be pretty uncomfortable—as much as Kakuzu would let show, Kakashi muses. He guesses the man doesn't like how hot it's inside the room. Kakashi likes the change from the biting cold out in the mountains, but right now, under the bed sheets, he starts feeling a bit boiled himself. With unresponsive hand he tries to push the blanket away. Kami, he does not enjoy how Kakuzu stares at him without blinking.

“Yeah,” Kakashi hisses in response, battling away the creeping sense of blood flowing in his legs, _damn that hurts_. “How long was I out?”

“A while,” Kakuzu answers, still not moving a bit. “Should work on that stamina.”

Kakashi chooses to ignore the remark. He's interested in the more pressing matter. “And the Five-Tails?” he asks, memories of their fight with the bijuu flashing in the back of his mind. The precise source of his headache, that is. His temples pulse with pain.

“Waiting for you to wake up.” Kakuzu normally sounds angry, if not grumpy, but around Kakashi he doesn't emit much emotion at all. His attitude is enough to make his comments seem snarky, however.

 _Whatever_ , Kakashi thinks and sits on the bed, his willpower the singe thing making him move. His limbs tingle unpleasantly, and the cold stone floor burns his bare feet. He stands up, swaying, and starts dressing himself. The task is a difficult and frustrating one, considering he's just woken up after collapsing from exhaustion. As if to fill the silence, Kakuzu speaks again.

“The vessel is ready; when we reach the base, it will take us three solid days to extract the Five-Tails.”

“I'll be fine,” Kakashi tells him, “but I'm not dragging that goon all the way to the base.”

Kakuzu only hums at that, puts his cloak on, and exits the room.

Their fight with Han of the Iwagakure was tough. The opponent proved to be strong and capable of not just defending himself, but also attacking them with quite some vigor. Wearing him out took its toll on both Kakashi and Kakuzu—by the time the jinchuuriki collapsed, Hatake himself was about to pass out from the physical strain. Their fight attracted unwanted attention, and had Kakashi not been forced to flee the site to lead the pursuers away, he and Kakuzu would've already arrived at the hideout.

Hatake is very much aware of his temporary partner's history within the organization. Kakuzu killed his previous partners, all but one—probably because that last one is immortal. It's a miracle the bounty hunter-turned-Akatsuki member hasn't attempted collecting bounty off Konoha's most famous missing nin yet. Kakashi wonders if it's respect, empathy, or curiosity talking. Hopefully, he'll survive until Kakuzu and Hidan are reunited. But one thing for sure—he absolutely will not drag the dying jinchuuriki all the way to the designated hideout on his back. Let Kakuzu do some of the work, right?

“Are we still in the Iron Country?” he asks, watching as Kakuzu tries to deal with Han's enormous height while dragging him on his back like a sack of rocks. They exit through the hidden entrance of the cave, and the chilly evening air pleasantly cools Kakashi's stiff muscles. Considering this and the fact that he isn't the one throwing his back out, their journey might just be on the side of pleasant. _Huh_ , he thinks. _Who would have thought_.

The sky is clear and splattered with numerous stars. Kakashi gazes upwards, ignoring Kakuzu's sideway glances. They fall into a moderate pace several minutes later, fast enough to be seen as on their way, but not too much to stress their worn muscles further. Kakashi's chakra reserves are slowly but surely recovering, and this is the first time in many weeks that he can actually enjoy his newfound predicament.

For the first time in many weeks, Kakashi has time to think without lethal danger floating just about. The Land of Iron is mostly empty of people, and something tells him they won't be disturbed by anyone else on their way. Maybe it's due to the cold winterish wind, or maybe it's the thick stench of stale blood emitting from Kakuzu's cloak. Quite frankly, Hatake doesn't care at this point. He has other worries on his mind.

Given that their capture of another tailed beast is a success, he's to be teamed up permanently with one of the Akatsuki members, and getting this far has its impact on him. Kakashi feels a little apprehensive. Kakuzu is a bounty hunter, a nukenin, and a murderer, but how much worse could the others be?

All of them, to Kakashi's knowledge, are shinobi gone rogue. While he doesn't have background on the few he has met so far, this one fact is kind of obvious. Akatsuki is a criminal organization, but it doesn't offer you enough to turn against your home village without additional, core reasons. Siding with the organization is the outcome.

Being an infamous Sharingan wielder, Kakashi did not have to prove his power to anyone. And the motivation—well, this is an entirely different topic. Kakashi muses the memories of the first month away from Konoha. He was being tracked down with clear intentions of being killed. The Land of Fire's hidden village couldn't allow someone like Hatake Kakashi run free, or it strongly did not want to. It took both Kakuzu and Hidan to shoo the ANBU tracking squad away.

“ _Konoha and its policies are no longer something I'm willing to tolerate_ ,” he explained to Kakuzu a day after they had met. “ _I no longer want to be their guard dog_ ,” he deadpanned. Kakuzu did not comment on his words while Hidan—well, Hidan was being his impossible self. Kakashi wasn't surprised when Kakuzu willingly sent his partner away to clear them a path when they went after the Five-Tails.

The single thing Kakuzu asked him was, “ _Do you feel not appreciated enough?_ ” Kakashi genuinely laughed at it then. It was like Kakuzu saw him as a teenager, off from his home during the first rebel phase.

Now he wonders if what he asked might be actually true. Months of abandonment must be taking their toll. Kakashi feels mentally stressed. Nothing is the same as he's used to, and knowing that it will never be... It's been driving him crazy. He still has unwanted thoughts creeping in his head. Regret and uncertainty, fear and anger.

His left eye begins to ache under the headband. The thin scar, which hasn't disturbed him in a long time, stings. Kakashi begins studying the forest around them to distract himself from the pain.

Most of the leaves are yellow and rusty. The tree branches are dry, and groan under the weight of the leaping nins, producing too much noise for anyone's liking. Moonlight flashes through the tree tops, illuminating the way ahead. The forest is peaceful. Kakashi senses wildlife all around them, a bird fleeing from under their feet every now and then.

It reminds him. Of that day when Minato's team had that training session in the autumn forest, and the four of them sat down for a picnic after all the hard work. Kakashi has the day engraved in his memory: Rin's happy face and a bit of mud on her nose, a thin cut on Obito's cheek. His own broken collarbone. That forest looked and felt just like this one. Maybe they were close to the northern border of the Land of Fire, like now. It would certainly explain his sudden reminiscence of the happier times. Yet, he doesn't have anything but bittersweet memories to think about. Obito is rolling in the mud with a fierce cat they've been assigned to capture, Naruto losing his chakra control and falling through the surface of a shallow creek water—

Kakashi sucks in a breath. The air feels too cold in his lungs, and he coughs several times in a row, his backside burning from the pressure on the tight muscles there.

Is it dawning already?

Kakashi looks at Han's form. The man is still unconscious, pale as a sheet, but his wounds are visibly healing, the Five-Tails doing its job. Maybe the beast is sensing the danger.

“We'll get there in time,” Kakuzu, who's followed Kakashi's line of sight, affirms. “It's not much longer.”

Indeed, several minutes after they've crossed a swiftly running river, Kakuzu starts to slow down. They jump down on the forest floor, and a seal Kakashi doesn't notice due to the exhaustion of his Sharingan opens up another hidden passage. They dive right in. Kakashi can sense the stone walls close up behind them. The cave leads to a room of sorts, with ceiling so high above it's not visible. Hidan appears from around a corner. Kakashi pays him no mind, instead studying the place. It smells like a swamp. In the center there's a huge stone statue, gnawed at by dampness. Kakashi figures it's the vessel.

Kakuzu dumps Han's body beside it and then retreats closer to the walls and up on a stone dais, which are ten in the room, all positioned in a half-circle around the statue. He gestures for Kakashi to stay back, while Hidan takes his place to Kakuzu's right.

“You two are very, very late.”

Kakashi twitches at the sudden non-human voice, but doesn't sense the presence of the fifth person.

Kakuzu huffs.

“Hidan and I have been waiting. Shall you begin? I will make sure...no one unwanted shows up.”

Kakashi sees him at the edge of his vision; a black and white vegetate-like figure, it vanishes into the ground, but not before giving him a look with his yellow eyes.

Without a warning, five spectre figures appear, each on their separate dais. Kakashi has only seen two of them before.

Uchiha Itachi stands at the exact opposite side of the room, staring at Kakashi blankly, not a hint of recognition in his eyes. Hoshigaki Kisame, his partner, is on his far left. The shark sends Kakashi a toothy grin, tilting his head to a side. Kakashi blinks in response and averts his gaze, turning to look at the face of the statue. It holds a huge metal cylinder in its jaws, each end of which has metal chains attached to it. Suddenly, another ghostly figure appears, and the cave starts trembling.

Both the stone statue and the daises with the Akatsuki members standing atop of them start rising from the ground. Numerous rocks fall from the ceiling, and for several minutes nothing is seen through the thick wall of dust. When it settles, Kakashi discovers that the daises Akatsuki are standing on are actually fingers of two huge stone palms. The hands have raised from the ground up to the shackled wrists.

The newly appeared man sends them each a meaningful glance before speaking, “Sasori and Deidara,” he looks at each man when naming them, “will be parting for Suna soon. It's best you depart now, and save your strength. Given the number of us that is left, I believe it will take us four days to extract the bijuu and seal it within the vessel. We shall begin now,” the man turns his wide eyes to Kakashi, contemplating. Seemingly making a decision, he puts his palms together to form a hand seal. Kakashi spares one last look at Han: the man's crimson clothes are turning brown from the rusted blood. His chest isn't rising visibly. The jinchuuriki is indeed dying.

***

Ninety six hours of rest, and Kakashi stops feeling like he is ready to accompany the jinchuuriki. The extraction of the Five-Tails goes without a flaw. After they'd finished, the rest of Akatsuki dissipated, only one figure staying in the not fully present form. Kakashi assumed he was the leader of this particular ring.

Hidan starts bickering with his partner as soon as everyone else is gone, but Kakuzu must be too tired to even bark in response. While Kakashi had the time to rest during the sealing process, Kakuzu had to drain his chakra and physical strength further to help with the sealing. He tries not to let his fatigue show and somewhat succeeds at it—Hidan does not suspect his partner is in no state to fight with him. Kakashi, on the other hand, can imagine the effects of a four days long procedure combined with the condition in which they arrived here. Kakuzu needs to catch a breath.

“Hatake Kakashi,” the leader addresses him. His voice is husky, collected, but is hushed compared to how he spoke to the larger group. Kakashi looks at him while settling in a dry spot closer to the wall, distancing himself from the statue and Han's body. “I'm told you are interested in joining Akatsuki.”

Kakashi nods once, folding his arms on his knees. “I believe we both can benefit from our collaboration,” he says, blinking to get rid of the black dots dancing in front of his eyes. It has just occurred to him that he is ravenously hungry.

“Our members always operate in pairs. Until our numbers are uneven and there's a vacant place, you should tag along with Kakuzu and Hidan. Seems like you get along,” his tone lacks any emotion, the leader of Akatsuki just states the fact. But for some reason Kakashi is sure he finds all of this amusing. 

Everyone within Akatsuki seems closed up; Kakashi would complement the organization finely. It's not like years of suppressing emotions could possibly pay off, but such a skill does make blending in with this crowd easier.

“This could work,” he replies, and the leader vanishes with an indifferent hum. Kakashi looks at the now bickering Hidan and Kakuzu. They look like an old married couple—which makes him almost regret that he'll be getting in between them, even if it's only for a short period of time.

“Oi you! Did Pain really just say that? Fucking god, I thought you'd be on your way by now,” Hidan chimes in just as the man disappears, seemingly not comfortable with arguing with their leader.

“Apparently so,” Kakashi says, rising to his feet. “And in the meantime, let's find us somewhere to rest. In case you haven't noticed, your partner is not in the best shape right now.”

Only now does Hidan actually spare a glance at Kakuzu, who's sitting slumped on the ground.

“Ri-ight,” he bleats, scratching the back of his head. “Welp, get up then,” he kicks Kakuzu with his foot—a gesture Kakashi under no circumstances would ever replicate. Immortality does make a person reckless to no extent.

The three of them leave the cave. Kakuzu and Kakashi fall into a slow pace—there is no reason to rush now. Until Deidara and Sasori capture the One-Tail, everyone should remain on standby to provide help at extracting the bijuu at a moment's notice. Hidan is the only one cheerfully striding ahead of them, annoying Kakuzu with his chattering. What a chatterbox, really. Kakashi is maybe two years older than this guy, but he can only wish to have the amount of energy Hidan has.

So, is it true? Are Akatsuki coming after Gaara tonight? That kid used to be so much trouble, but now he might be considered Konoha's greatest ally. He is also Naruto's friend and fellow jinchuuriki. His loss would be a devastating blow for the Leaf village. And, if everything goes according to plan, Akatsuki will capture three tailed beasts within a single week.

“I smell shinobi of the Leaf and Sand nearby,” Hidan growls, stopping dead in his tracks. “We have to keep the area clean, don't we?” he bemuses, smirk on his lips.

“You'll attract more attention if a squad disappears here,” _or is found all cut-up_ , Kakashi tries to reason. To his surprise, Kakuzu agrees.

“We will lure them away. Let's split.”

Each one of them leaps in opposite direction, no more discussion needed. Kakashi pulls a hood over his head—he doesn't want anyone to recognize him as the Copynin scouting about in the same place where Akatsuki are operating. He considers summoning his ninken to help track down the infiltrators, but decides against it: his dogs could also be recognized.

All that's left is playing a decoy, again. Hopefully, Hidan and Kakuzu will do the same instead of starting a fight. Kakashi doesn't see them as stupid, not one bit, but they are hotheaded and easily aggravated. It'll be pure luck if none of them mess this plan up.

***

Fortunately, his partners don't let down: the next time Kakashi soundly reunites with them at the Sound Country border, Kakuzu tells him that Deidara and Sasori have captured the jinchuuriki of the One-Tailed beast. Gaara is definitely going to die now. They have met a couple of times after Gaara took the Kage title. He was promising to be a kind ruler, empathetic and forgiving. Not the kind the world could take right now.                                                       

Kakashi starts weighting Minato's old kunai in his pocket—a habit he has picked up recently. A stress reliever. It's ridiculous that he took the kunai with him before fleeing the village, yet it felt wrong to leave it behind. His dead sensei promised to be there for him; this way, even in death, Minato can keep the promise.

The marked kunai is also the single thing he took with him that could remind him of the Leaf village. The photos of both Minato's and his own Team Seven were left to collect dust, facing down on the desk. He couldn't look at them back then. Mr. Ukki must be dying at this point, too. Kakashi chuckles at the half-assed symbolism. Yeah, a plant drying isn't something he can allow himself to worry about. Kakashi clutches the kunai tighter.

“We need to find a safe place to help with the sealing,” Kakuzu breaks the silence, “there's too much stirring around the border, we could lead Suna nin right to the hideout if we go back.”

Kakashi is reaching his limit. Just like Kakuzu noted, he never had good stamina, and the last ten days are proving it has already increased considerably. Two years ago, he would've gotten himself a month-long stay in a hospital after a fight that he had with Han. Instead, he dropped out of reality overnight only to wake up and keep on going. He is still on his feet and ready to take on anyone who attacks the three of them.

On his right, Hidan is muttering something under his breath, no doubt cursing his partner for ordering him around. Kakashi wishes to see the guy's head cut off his body.

His bloodlust has increased as well, it seems.

“But wait!” Hidan suddenly exclaims, speeding up to be closer to Kakuzu. He turns to look behind and stares at Kakashi, forehead furrowed. “You two just went from the Iron Country all the way to River, and I had to run all over the place to keep these fucktards away from you! Don't we deserve a break or something!?” he turns back to look at his partner, smashing his head in a tree branch in the process. It doesn't slow him down, but he growls at how Kakuzu hums at his falter, “Not fucking funny.”

“Did it look like I was laughing?” Kakuzu growls in return, “But no, we will not catch a break, unless you want to recapture the One-Tails yourself.”

Yeah, it certainly would be too much trouble if they stopped now. Gaara might escape. But it's not like that could stop Akatsuki from going after the bijuu—such an inconvenience will only result in bigger players to make their appearance. Does Pain also hunt the tailed beasts, or does he stay in the shadows for the most part?

“Hidan's right about one thing,” Kakashi reasons, noticing how his legs start stumbling against one another. “Let's start looking for a place to stay.”

“You will keep watch this time,” Kakuzu doesn't turn one bit to tell Kakashi this. “Zetsu isn't going to be for us here.”

“I won't let anyone close,” Kakashi agrees. He doesn't overestimate himself. If there's the right time to summon his ninken, it's for this purpose. Hopefully, Pakkun will take pity and not try to bite his fingers off at the first sight of him.


	2. Shades of red

“You look like shit,” Pakkun deadpans, sitting on the ground in front of Kakashi. His eyes are pure orbs of accusation, accompanied by something that Kakashi can't quite distinguish. Sorrow, maybe. “You do know I'm considering breaking the contract for the shit you're pulling off?”

Ah, he knows. Kakashi thinks back to the two days after he left Konoha. Hopelessness was eating him alive that night; he lay curled up on the floor with Pakkun and Bisuke, unable to keep his eye closed while alone. He surely looked much worse then than he does now—the ninken obviously took pity on him, unsummoning themselves in the morning after Kakashi had a somewhat night sleep. The next time he needed the ninkens' help, they didn't tell him a single thing. Not like he could blame them, though.

“I don't think it would be that easy,” Kakashi tells Pakkun, resting his elbows on his knees and looking the dog in the eyes. “And it'd probably just end bad for the both of us.”

“How exactly do you imagine it ending bad for me? I'd finally retire and wouldn't have to deal with your bullshit anymore, boss,” the dog answers him in his usual, laid-back tone, and looks at the rest of the pack which observe their interaction attentively. Kakashi sighs, burying his face in his hands. He should drop the subject—it's neither time nor place to be bickering with the ninken. Kakuzu has found a desolate area in the woods for them to stay. He and Hidan disappeared into yet another cave to have roof over their heads while the extraction. Kakashi stayed outside to keep watch, as planned.

“Just alert me whenever someone comes closer than six kilometers,” he addresses the dogs. They scatter in all four directions. Finally, Kakashi lets out a sigh. He's tired to the bone, and no amount of attempts at ignoring the issue are going to change it.

The sky above is glowing blue, the sun blindingly bright. Not a single cloud. It's a beautiful day. A good one to die, even. Back at the hideout, the One-Tails is being sealed inside the enormous statue, killing his host as the result of extraction. Kakashi has been thinking of the procces, dissecting it in his head. If there is a way to unseal a bijuu from its host's body, he has never heard of it. The jinchuuriki, he figures, must be dying from chakra depletion, as the tailed beasts suck it with them when trying to fight the extraction.

Kakashi hangs his head.

Should he crash inside the makeshift hideout to interrupt the technique?

Kakuzu hasn't rested, unlike Kakashi, who got three days of keeping watch with this Zetsu character—but Kakashi has no chance against Hidan. Not in his current state, even without taking the man's immortality into consideration. Besides, he's here for entirely different reasons. Suna's failure at protecting their Kage isn't his concern. Kakashi digs his nails in his palms, tastes the sharp pain as the gloves tear under the pressure. His left eye stings. It makes him angry, and all Kakashi's willpower goes to stopping him from bursting. This is hell.

The sun blinds his uncovered eye when he looks up. The shadows cast from the trees around the clearing don't do much to protect him from the sun rays. They aren't that far from the Land of Wind. His clothes are sticky from sweat, a huge contrast to how Kakashi clutched at his vest to keep him warm in the northern mountains of the Iron County.

It's at least three more days before they leave this place. Kakashi chuckles. He's actually daydreaming of sleep, isn't he? He was still in ANBU the last time he did so. A mission all the way in the Sky Country—he had to be dragged on his teammate's back as his limbs gave up under the effort.

 _Come on! You only have to last three more days. Maybe you won't encounter anyone while here_ , Kakashi's mind suggests hopefully. No one followed them this time, this Hatake is sure about. There's unlikely a reason for shinobi or tourists to rummage in this area.

He tried not to pay too much attention to the process of extracting the Five-Tails, yet in the weather like that... it's difficult. The cave of their hideout was illuminated by blue glowing of chakra dragons, while the bijuu's red chakra started leaking from within Han's body. Kakashi shakes his head in hopes of shooing the mental image away. Dying this way must feel terrible... knowing that the pain inflicted upon you is none of your fault.

Kakashi drifts off. He sees visions of blood red chakra enveloping him, of embers under his feet, and of the Hokage's unmoving body among the ruins. The sun starts to set when he jolts awake, his right leg still asleep from the uncomfortable position. From behind him, Akino hums politely, closing the distance in two long strides. His eyes are covered with sunglasses as always, impenetrable with Kakashi's usual eye.

“There's something you'd wanna know,” the ninken tells and takes off, leading the way.

“Anything of concern?” he asks, groggily. Kakashi has to navigate through the forest warily not to injure his ankle, which still hasn't fully restored its blood circulation. Ending up with a broken leg atop of everything would suck.

“Lots of commotion from the Land of Wind border,” Akino explains. “Suna shinobi, all of them, but Shiba and I haven't detected many.”

It is possible that Suna sent out its shinobi to look for the kidnapped Kazekage and they just happened to be sweeping the area. This is pretty bad on its own. Kakashi knows the Akatsuki must've tried to ensure their safety—after all, they wouldn't put the success of the extraction on just two people, no matter how capable these two people are—but he has to see for himself that these shinobi are indeed sweeping and not sent after them.

They spend ten more minutes moving east. The Wind border isn't too far from here; the Akatsuki hideout, luckily, is. Yet Kakashi can't shake the feeling of apprehension: they took on a Kage. This won't go as smooth as the capture of a wayfaring Iwagakure jinchuuriki no one hasn't noticed yet.

Suddenly, Kakashi is struck with a heart-chilling realization. He almost kicks himself for not thinking of this possibility earlier. No matter how tired he is, he has to think ahead more. Konoha and Suna have been establishing diplomatic friendship, so to say. Naruto and Gaara are both hosts for the tailed beasts. Would Naruto leave his fellow jinchuuriki and a friend in the time of need? No. Would Konoha disagree to assist Suna, considering the Sand village could very well be under attack due to the absence of its Kage? Hell no.

“Akino!” Kakashi exclaims, attracting the ninken's attention. The forest surrounding them is turning from being lit by the orange setting sun to a greyish confusing mess at the lack of light and speed they're going. “Are you sure you only encountered shinobi from the Wind?”

“I sure would've sensed anyone from Konoha.” The dog starts slowing down, taking a more stealthy approach. It's hard for Akino to navigate through the trees this way, and both he and Kakashi come to a halt. “On your two, Kakashi,” he tells him.

Kakashi concentrates on his chakra, searching for a presence of any other shinobi. True to the ninken's words, there is a team of four people moving away from both Kakashi and the camp.

“Looks like they're just passing by,” he whispers.

Kakashi has nothing holding him back; if the situation requires, he will attack anyone, including shinobi of the Leaf. However, he'd also like to postpone the inevitable clash with his once-comrades. He is in no condition, neither physical nor mental, to fight them today. “Good job, I'll be on my own from here,” he dismisses the ninken and goes to follow the interlopers, only to come to a stop upon noticing that Akino is still at his heels. “What is it?”

"Are you sure? We could work together on this one,” Akino suggests, no doubt having noticed the bags under his master's eyes and how he favors one leg.

“Ah,” is all Kakashi can get out of himself. And here he thought his ninken hate his guts. “Let's split up then, try to follow them from the north. If something else happens, come back at once!”

Akino nods once and disappears into the darkening forest. Kakashi follows the Suna shinobi from the south, putting as much distance between him and the group as his tracking senses allow. His only goal is to see the group off from the five-mile radius from his own team's camp. He won't engage unless it's absolutely necessary.

An hour or so later—Kakashi has lost track of time, too focused on remaining unnoticed and not face-first in the dirt—the enemy group stops entirely, for a break or some other reason Kakashi doesn't know. This gives him the opportunity to creep closer and eavesdrop on the conversation they might be having. He senses Akino, and now also Uuhei and Guruko nearby. As Kakashi gets closer, he starts making out some of the words spoken.

“—Doesn't seem to be here—,“ there's a moment during which the voices are illegible, but Kakashi is sure he hears something like 'council' and 'turn back'. He's dangerously close now and risks being detected. There, in the shadows, he sees a form of a single person. Their faces are covered by pieces of cloth, and the uniform they wear is armored yet appears light—ANBU operatives, then.

“Okay, Bug's right. Let's turn back,” the male voice says, met with hums of approval.

Kakashi is about to relax, relief washing over him, when the group starts to move south, to make a U-turn and to cover a larger area. “Please don't go there,” he all but pleads. “You morons…” They're going where they shouldn't—he needs to do something now!

“Hey!” he calls out, slaps himself mentally—a genius move, Hatake. “Are you from Suna?!” he leaps to the ground, tugs his headband lower on his forehead, covering the crossed Konoha leaf with his wild hair. The ANBU agents don't flinch visibly, but Kakashi can sense surprise on them.

“So Konoha did send help, huh,” the female he heard earlier is the first to address him. “Where's the rest of your team?”

His brilliant idea of attracting their attention seems more stupid with each breath he or his opponents take. “We split up,” he drawls, taking on his lazy persona, “to cover a bigger area.”

“You've also lost their tracks, haven't you,” she comments. “Some famous tracker you are,” an attempted joke. It's a slight twitch of her little finger that gives her away.

Without further delay, Kakashi fishes out four of his kunai, throwing them at the four of his opponents. The bangs of his hair, with additional help from the cloth of his headband, cover a good third of his vision. He has to raise his head unnaturally, not sure he can spare the effort and time to pull the headband off. Kakashi misses the moment the kunai hit the targets. The familiar scent of iron in the air tells him that he's at least brushed someone with his throw—that someone being a male with darker hair farther away from him.

In turn, Kakashi has to dodge three kunai with explosive tags attached to each. In his peripheral vision he sees the female doing a hand sign to detonate the seals, but by the time it happens, he's already charging his chakra into a Lightning Cutter in his right hand, tearing the headband down to his neck with the other. His attack is inhumanly fast, and the Sharingan allows Kakashi to lean just a bit to his left side to compensate his target's attempted escape. It works, and within a second he's cutting through the chest of one of the ANBU.

A female, a male who'd been addressed to as Bug, and the one bleeding are left.

Severe pain shoots through Kakashi's brain, concentrating near his left temple specifically. He can only swear under his breath and jump on his left, almost twisting the damn ankle, as Bug sends a blade of wind his way. This attack has an unexpectedly wide range—Kakashi feels hot air pass near his right side when he's more than four meters away from his original position. When the blade crashes into a tree behind him, tearing it down with a loud crunch, the body of the first killed shinobi finally hits the ground.

Kakashi forms the seals for the Hiding Mole technique and to dispatch a shadow clone in his place. Under the ground, he clutches at his head with both hands. He's ready to believe it would actually explode from the pressure inside, and while the cold soil does soothe the pain somewhat, he's still left with impaired vision and inability to properly concentrate. He used the Lightning Cutter to get rid of an enemy as fast as he can, but it looks like he'll have to choose precision and calculated attacks over sheer force.

Above him, Bug flees the scene, evading his clone's attacks. Kakashi senses Urushi and Bisuke give chase, but it will be worthless unless he gets rid of the two remaining ANBU. The soil envelops around him, easy to manipulate under the influence of Earth Release chakra. The shadow clone releases the Great Fireball, the roaring of which could be deafening in close proximity. Kakashi moves through the ground, orienting himself with the smell of blood from the male ANBU. He launches from the ground right behind the shinobi's back and goes for a silent kill. The female, stunned by his Fireball, is an easy victim for another carefully thrown kunai.

Focusing for this maneuver literally took all of his remaining energy. Everything before Kakashi doubles and sways on its axis. “Pakkun,” he calls, hearing the ninken's deliberately louder footsteps.

“They're not far,” Pakkun answers the silent question. He doesn't comment on the slaughter of the loyal Suna shinobi, and Kakashi isn't going to mention that. Allowing them to stumble upon the Akatsuki's camp would've undone everything Kakashi worked hard for three months straight.

He stands up from his knees and puts the headband back to its place—there's no need to try and hide the crossed Leaf insignia, as the ANBU recognized him anyway. Besides, he isn't about to let Bug run free. Kakashi pants heavily, going through the latest events in his head.

The ANBU chose to head back to Suna, but does it mean that the Council gave them a time limit, after reaching which they were supposed to abort the mission? Is there a number of teams scattered in all directions, or were they indeed following the trail? If luck is on Kakashi's side, no one would come looking for this particular team within fifty hours from now—a concept close to impossible. On the other hand, Suna could send actual reinforcements to look for the missing team.

He'll have to be alert in case more shinobi are roaming this area. Best case scenario: extracting the one tails takes three solid days like Kakuzu planned for the five tails, and Kakashi gets no rest for three more days because not only does he have to wait for the Akatsuki to finish the sealing, he and his team will also need to flee the scene, fast.

“Worst case scenario: you fucking die, you moron,” Kakashi tells himself, straightening up. He looks ahead, then checks his palms: both gloves are wet with blood, and the right one emits smoke—barely visible, but an evident proof that he's used his Lightning Cutter, which deals additional thermal damage.

Kakashi takes off, not bothering to pick up the used kunai. It won't matter if Bug escapes, and Kakashi could clean this mess up after he's dealt with that man.

  
***

  
Naruto feels his body tremble from all that he's lived through in the last three days. First there was the race from Konoha all the way to the Land of Wind, then they had to search for the Akatsuki bastards that kidnapped Gaara, and then Naruto was chasing Deidara for Kami knows how long. He figured that that bastard was simply trying to lure him away, given that Naruto is also a jinchuuriki the Akatsuki are after, but he couldn't fight it, even knowing that engaging against this guy was a mortal danger. Yamato, the team captain assigned by Tsunade, did his best to hold Naruto back, and also provided tactics for recapturing Gaara's body when his first objective failed. Snatching Gaara from Deidara's grasp proved to be a vital point in their mission; without the body, Chiyo wouldn't have resurrected Gaara.

Naruto would have done that anyway.

As much as her sacrifice pains Naruto, he's also happy that his friend and fellow jinchuuriki survived the assault. How could this be happening? How could these criminals disregard humanity of their victims and kill them?! And for what—simply to get to the tailed beasts!

Naruto has been uncharacteristically deep in thought ever since their team left Suna to go back home. All kinds of questions are finding their way inside his head, and some of them actually make Naruto's skin crawl. Like, for instance, those who sealed the one tails inside of Gaara are at fault for all the pain being the jinchuuriki has caused Gaara. Aren't they also the ones to blame for the fact that Gaara was killed for being made a host for a bijuu? Was Chiyo's death a sacrifice, or was she atoning for her sins?

Naruto rubs his eyes. He won't ever forget Gaara's dead body, but overthinking the past isn't going to stop this from happening again. He needs to focus on the present. He's going to fight and destroy the Akatsuki, return Sasuke to the village, and... return Kakashi to the village. And for that, he'll need to find out what happened to his sensei. Naruto is never going to believe that Kakashi left fir the same reasons as Itachi—to manifest his power and superiority. Kakashi just isn't like that! He's always so calm, collected. Almost too lazy to ever consider abandoning Konoha just because, ugh, it means leaving his home, the convenience it provides, the people that live there!

Nothing Kakashi ever did spoke of a man not loyal to his very bone.

Naruto looks at Gai, running amongst the group instead of rushing ahead and challenging Lee like he would've done two years ago. He looks at Sakura, who appears to be deep in thought as well; while her attitude towards Naruto hasn't changed much, overall she seems... colder.

He winces at the thought: Sakura and cold just don't go together! But wherever he looks, Naruto can see the impact Kakashi's—

 _betrayal_ , that's the word. The impact his sensei's betrayal has on Naruto's dear people. Even Jiraiya seemed shocked to hear the news when they first arrived in Konoha.

And this is exactly the proof Naruto needs! Why would Hatake Kakashi, the ever-late genius jounin, just decide to abandon everything he fought for? The story Shikamaru told him after their friendly sparring to test Naruto's skills reminded him a lot of Sasuke's brother. Attacking Naruto's former classmates to the point they needed hospitalization, and doing so without any obvious reason? Without any reasons at all.

Naruto feels a tiniest ting of two dots connecting in his head, but can't figure out what exactly he has just figured out for the life of him. _Damn_ , he thinks, _I'm really not cut out for this overanalyzing stuff._

  
***

  
“—Just because some idiot can't stealth for shit!” Hidan's unstoppable ranting is starting to get on Kakashi's nerves. He's genuinely surprised that Kakuzu hasn't yet tried to sew his partner's mouth shut or something. That would benefit them both, after all. “Can you fucking imagine it! Having the nine tails in his grasp! Fucking this whole thing up!” Hidan goes on and on, to the point when Kakashi has to zoom him out to keep his barely balanced sanity from plummeting.

“Careful here, our freshly rogue nin might get a little too sensitive,” Kakuzu interrupts his partner's verbal flow.

 _Scratch that_ , Kakashi notes to himself. He  _is the one getting on my nerves_. Out loud, he only chuckles, not managing to get a single word out before Hidan starts ranting again.

“—About that! We could've totally gone after that Nine-Tails! Imagine getting two bijuu in five days! But no-o, we have to pissing flee the freakin' scene...” his arms are swinging all over the place, to the point when his scythe comes dangerously close to Kakashi's eyeball for a second. Kakashi all but snaps.

“I'd like to see you take on the Nine-Tails jinchuuriki after days with no rest,” it's almost funny how being on a team with two murderous hotheads changes one's personality to match them. “Personally, I'd love to keep my limbs attached, I love them very much.” The image of Hidan's head separated from his body after a heated argument with Kakuzu pops in his mind.

“And I would've! With or without your help, not like it's too much difference.” Hidan closes his eyes in a bragging manner, striding like he's about to be given an empire and is not walking in mud left by neverending rains of the, well, Land of Rains.

Kakuzu rolls his eyes. Kakashi's impressed neither of the two start swinging their fists or daggers.

“Where are we heading, exactly?” he inquires, hoping to change the subject. The pressing truth of being on his last legs concerns him more than anything else.

“Like I said—to rest. And also to dump you at someone's—hasn't Sasori lost to that chick, eh?”

That chick being Sakura—at first Kakashi didn't believe what Kakuzu told him about the One-Tails extraction. He's... impressed. Training under one of the Sannin did shape the girl quite well. Kakashi's curious how the other two have changed. At the same time, he doesn't want to encounter them. Hasn't he betrayed Naruto? Hadn't he been lying to Sasuke? Uzumaki must hate his guts, or worse—still have faith in him like he still has faith in Sasuke.

If Kakashi never finds out which one is correct, it'll be fine by him.

_Kami. When I get to bed, I'll sleep for an entire week._

When they stop at an inn that looks like its owners would host anyone for the right price—an assumption that turns out to be true—Kakashi does just that. He dumps the wet vest and shirt somewhere in the corner, sends his muddy boots flying across the room, takes off his hitai-ate, and only bothers to undo his bandaged legs because he can't just leave them like that. It'll result in some horrible stuff. He made that mistake once.

Not really capable of telling memories from dreams, Kakashi crashes on the couch. A perfectly fine by the shitty inn's standards bed is just a couple steps further into the room—the distance Kakashi is unable to cross at this point. He falls on his back and passes out immediately, not even the loud creaking of the old piece of furniture disturbing him.

For the first time since abandoning Konoha, he doesn't see the village burning in flames in his sleep. Instead, he's plagued with his old dream of Rin's death. Except this Rin looks much older, probably Kakashi's age, and has burn scars instead of her usual purple markings. She's trying to tell him something, but Kakashi just can't her hear over the sound of a cave collapsing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate every comment I get, so don't be shy!
> 
> The updates will be rather slow, as you have seen so far. This is because I have a double workload at uni + the idea is quite challenging. I'm still figuring out where exactly to take this, and while I have some solid ideas, it takes time to put them together.  
> 
> 
> Thank you for reading! 


	3. Glad to be here

He jerks awake. The nightmare isn't anything he hasn't seen before, but it still gets at him. Kakashi wishes he could say he is used to it by now—but that's only true in a tiny fraction of his mind. In this one he sees nothing new, nothing that hasn't happened before. His palm is bloodied, black spots, fly-like, dance at the edge of his vision, and the skin itches to be scrubbed.

Kakashi breathes with his full chest. His legs and arms still feel heavy, but don't seem to pull him down like before he went to sleep. Early sunlight gets inside through the drawn curtains. Some rays fall on his exposed shoulder, warming the worn muscles.

The light is enough to navigate the room without tripping over his own clothes. Is he really going to have to wash these by himself?.. Kakashi sighs, picks up the clothes, and heads to the bathroom.

At least this shitty place has separate bathrooms. The bathtub and sink used to be white once, now turned yellow with time. Kakashi washes away the blood from the fabric in the sink. The room fills with the stench of copper—rotten to the core and nauseating. What a good start of the day.

Washed and somewhat fresh, Kakashi is ready to go, physically, not more than twenty minutes later. His hair drips water all over the carpeted floor. Now, does he need to find Kakuzu? Maybe he'll wait until Hidan or him come knocking on his door, annoyed at having to wait for him. Kakashi fishes out a book from inside his cloak and gets back in his bed. It's also creaking loudly whenever he moves, so Kakashi has to still himself to read in peace. His body does not appreciate that.

He holds the latest issue of the Bingo book he's taken from Bug's dead body. Kakashi flickers through the pages, looking for a particular name. _Fukuda Kiyomu_ , he reads and turns to the next page, titled _Hatake Kakashi_. _Extremely dangerous_ , the ink tells him, _Flee on sight_.

Well, at least they assigned him an S-Rank; not surprising, but somehow... Grounding? Like this particular entry was made to keep him in check. _You're screwed, Kakashi. No backing out now._

Kakashi of the Sharingan is considered dangerous enough for the handbook to advise not to engage him in fight—the book that is all about engaging in fights and earning money for it. 60 million ryō for his head? That's almost twice the amount offered for Asuma. So... is it a lot?

Because he's lost his affiliation with Konohagakure, other nations can put him on their wanted lists and not risk a diplomatic incident with the Land of Fire. Kirigakure, along with a couple other hidden villages, had a bounty on his head for years. But now it's safe for everyone to assign a price for his death or capture.

Which begs the question... how much will the price rise when it's known that he is a member of the Akatsuki? Maybe it would double then. Kakashi can't help but bite a laugh. This is in no way funny, yet he can't help it. A coping mechanism, that's right.

Do the evil guys compete with each other on who gets a bigger bounty? Kakashi totally sees that being a legit discussion, after spending so much time teamed up with the zombie duo.

Talking about teams, wasn't Pain planning on pairing him up with someone for good?

***

  
“The ring, Zetsu-san! I found the ring!” a man in a spiral mask screams, showing off the ring ripped from the puppet's hand. “Does it mean you now have a vacant place for me? For me to become a member of the Akatsuki?!”

Zetsu looks over Sasori's destroyed body.

“Might be not the best course of action,” the masked man says after a pause, voice suddenly lower, more rasp to it. “Considering there's such an unexpected candidate...”

“Let's go,” is all Zetsu says. He accepts the ring from Tobi and hides it under his sleeve. “We still need to find Deidara.”

“If Deidara's dead, I can have his ring instead!” his voice back to the high-pitch again, Tobi flails his arms in overflowed excitement. “Wait, you're going already!? Wait for me, Zetsu-san!”

They leave the ruins of the Akatsuki's hideout together, Tobi circling Zetsu like a puppy on a long-awaited walk.

***

  
Just like Kakashi expected, Kakuzu's patience has come to an end in not too long. The door creaks under the man's heavy fist. Kakashi lazily goes to open it, some part of him curious as to what extent he could anger Kakuzu without regretting it. He opens the door and peeks out, smiling with his eyes.

“Huh, we are leaving already?” he beams. Kakuzu's scowl grows darker.

“We're leaving, and you do whatever the hell you want,” he says.

Kakashi's dumbstruck for a moment there before he notices Kakuzu holding up a purple ring:

“Sasori's dead; it's yours.”

Woah. So, when can Kakashi get the rest of the merchandise, say, the black and red cloak?

“So it's Deidara and I, then,” he says instead and accepts the ring. It fits his ring finger just fine with his glove on.

Kakuzu nods.

“He's with Hidan, just had both his arms sewn back... Whatever you two do next isn't my concern.” With that, he turns around and leaves, not a single more word exchanged between them.

And he leaves Kakashi as an official Akatsuki member now, having no business ordering him around anymore.

And Deidara... the man who defeated the Fifth Kazekage on his own. Huh. Kakashi is reaching an entirely new level—or is he hitting the rock-bottom? Time will probably tell, he reasons, retreating back into his room. He properly looks around the dimly lit place: walls of a dirty orange colors, dark green curtains, furniture mismatched. The wooden floor looks like it's been here, nurtured with dust and dirt, for at least a couple decades, undisturbed even by the guests. Because, well, the whole place looks like no one but the owner is ever around.

He regrets leaving the Icha Icha books in Konoha. The inn could have some sort of book trading system where he could shamelessly steal something to read. Driven by that hope, Kakashi exits his room, picking up what little belongings he has with him. After all, they might be forced to flee at any given moment… not to mention that Kakashi would very much like not to spend another night here.

He finds Hidan's room and walks right in, alerting the man inside with a controlled burst of chakra. Deidara lies slumped on the bed, cold sweat on his temples, and blood everywhere else. Kakashi's nose is assaulted by the smell of gore and something burning. He frowns.

“Who in the world,” comes Deidara's croak. He turns his head around to see him, and that little movement seems to cost him a vicious amount of strength—and pain. “Huh. That's you.”

“Indeed,” Kakashi agrees politely. He sure hopes his now-permanent partner isn't delirious after the surgery. Frankly, he is surprised to see Deidara awake. Maybe he could convince him, pull a couple more hours of rest—

He stares off into the distance outside the window. It's all dull gray, now, the sun hidden behind rain clouds.

“I think we might just get along if you're always like this, what'd you say?“ Deidara sounds amused—not something you'd expect from a guy in his condition.

“Have bad experience with getting along with someone?”

Deidara sighs dramatically and takes a sip from a terribly smelling bottle. It's alcohol, at least half of it, and the other one being... Kakashi'd rather not know.

“Well there's this idiot, Tobi, uh-huh,” Deidara begins, putting the bottle aside after giving it a look of _you've just mortally offended me_ , “Who's been hanging around us for quite some time, huh. So with Sasori's death I expected to be paired up with him, and that's just... Dreadful,” he shivers theatrically. “I mean he's an idiot, and half the time I can't honestly tell if he's fooling around or if he's for real that fucking dumb.” Deidara starts curling and uncurling his fingers. On both arms they seem unresponsive, like they've been frozen and are now just coming back to life. Maybe this is how it actually works. He has to get a hang of using an artificial limb, and losing and then resewing an arm… Not good.

Kakashi grimaces under his mask. He knows it won't reach his eyes.

“Where're we going next?”

“Don't really know—I mean there're still the Two-Tails and the Three-Tails on the loose, huh... and also the Nine-Tails,” he says suggestively and grins. “I mean Nines almost fried me with that bijuu chakra, but if not for that other Konoha dude with him… yeah. I suppose you of all people would love to take on the Konoha's jinchuuriki, huh, sensei?”

Kakashi absolutely does not scowl at the honorific. “It'll be more trouble than the Kazekage.” He pauses for a moment, collecting his earlier thoughts on this. “Now that it's known he's one of the Akatsuki's targets. Konoha isn't Suna—they won't just hold back and watch.”

“Yeah, yeah, thought so. Luring him away from the others was easy though,” Deidara sprawls on the mattress and turn his eyes to the ceiling. When he starts speaking again, he sounds lazy—sleepy, even. “It's the matter of getting him alone. Then boom—done, huh! With a blast.”

So Naruto is no less hot-headed and daring than he used to be. That's nothing new.

“Who else we've got? I can't really remember. Eight-Tails... and Six-Tails. Seven-Tails?”

“—Already extracted and sealed,” Kakashi comments. The Six-Tail's jinchuuriki death is the reason he's standing here, an Akatsuki ring in his possession and Deidara as his partner. He met Hidan and Kakuzu for the first time back then, tracked them down from the battle site, and almost had his arm chopped off by one angry fanatic.

“Right then! And you've dealt with the Five-Tails, uh-huh. Only five beasts to go...”

“And it appears like you've left the most pain-in-the-ass ones for dessert, haven't you,” Kakashi says bluntly. This gets him a reaction he wanted—one of childish pout, angered with something darker. He lets Deidara go at it, and tunes him out.

Kakashi feels hollow; the thoughts of one Uzumaki Naruto dying don't plague his mind. It's all irrelevant. Kakashi isn't there to keep the kid out of trouble anymore. The Nine-Tails jinchuuriki will have to deal with that on his own.

Finally, he tunes back in just in time for Deidara to cross his arms over his chest. His fingers are twitching now, but it looks like he has better control over them. “—We'll leave in two hours. From what I remember Pain saying, the Three-Tails should be the closest to us.”

Kakashi nods—and stays in the room.

***

  
“Are you... absolutely sure about this?” Gaara asks again, turning the thing in hand. There shouldn't be any doubts, but he makes his operatives research every possibility before assuming the worst.

Knowing the evidence in his hand could not be interpreted wrongly, Temari keeps silent—the look in her eyes is telling enough. She holds the scroll with a full report on it, its copy also lying on Gaara's desk.

“We need to discuss this with Konoha first,” Kankuro suggests from his place on the sofa. He opens his mouth to say something else, but quickly shuts it again. This is truly a delicate matter, and should be treated accordingly. “Maybe send a letter with the data—”

“No way,” Temari cuts in, shooting him an angry look. “ _When_ we tell them about this, we do so personally—God knows what'd happen if this information gets in the wrong hands.”

“Temari's right,” Gaara agrees before his brother could say anything else. They're all nervous, which means they can't let this escalate by arguing over feelings. “Both the report and the... evidence should go straight to Tsunade-sama.”

“I'll take it with me,” Temari nods solemnly.

“You've just came back!” Kankuro protests, hitting the armrest with his fist. It's not even loud, and only serves to show how stressed out he actually is—which is no surprise, after his own close call and Gaara's death.

“Kankuro, me going isn't the problem. The problem is right here,” Temari waves the scroll in her hand, tapping it with a finger.

Gaara feels the start of a nasty headache. He massages his temples, which never helped him much. “Leave when you're ready,” he tells his sister. Temari leaves with a formal nod. Gaara hides the copy of the report in a drawer that only opens with his chakra. Now, one last thing to deal with, for now. “Kankuro?”

His other sibling loses all his spite in a second and looks actually lost. “What do we do, Gaara? Doesn't this change…everything?”

Gaara sighs, turning chair around to look at Suna out the window. It's closing to midday, the hottest it gets here. Hopefully Temari will wait it out. “I don't know,” he says honestly. This means trouble for Konoha—this could mean trouble _with_ Konoha, too. “Maybe someone tried to set them up. Maybe it's their own doing, for whatever reason they needed that, but—I don't think it is, Kankuro. Not this one. If it was a setup, I don't think they would risk such a blatant... I'd never believe this, if I didn't have the evidence.

Kankuro clears his throat before he could speak. “I... It's just—it all went downhill in a second, you know,” he whispers.

“Yeah. I actually died... still can't wrap my mind around it,” Gaara admits, smiling shyly.

“Don't say that again. And you don't need to wrap your mind around it! Because we won't let it happen anymore!”

“We will, but not necessarily to me—this may just be out of our control, like this one,” he taps the handle of his sealed drawer, loud enough for Kankuro to hear. Unlike his brother, Gaara is calm. He is still feeling a bit out of things—out of reality, and that sits well with seeming undisturbed. “We should do our best to prevent such thing, but if the Akatsuki're actually after the jinchuuriki, I don't think we can. Not alone.”

“Shouldn't we just ask? How the others are doing? Hell, half of them are rogues! No village would protect them.”

“And the other half is under a hundred locks inside their villages. And Naruto's the rest.”

“Just listen to us, we make it sound like there're dozens of them out there,” Kankuro says grimly. “God help anyone who takes on Naruto.”

Gaara isn't so sure anymore.

***

  
Maybe he should just give the whole damn thing up. This idea has been plaguing Naruto's mind for several days in a row, and no matter how hard he tries to get rid of it, it comes back, stronger and more confident each time. Naruto knew why Sasuke left—ever since the introductions were made at that rooftop, it was set in stone, no matter if Naruto realized that then or tried to scare the thought away with his affection for Team Seven.

Except, you know. He didn't want to accept that _fated_ stuff back then, and he isn't about to accept it now.

Sasuke isn't about revenge. Sasuke isn't consumed with vengeance, as much as he tries to show off otherwise. His friend is battling against the worst of this world, its injustice and corruption. This is what poisons his thinking and distorts his view of reality...

And in Naruto's view, that asks for some sense punched into Sasuke.

Training to become stronger is no good reason to leave everything behind, in Naruto's world. Sasuke could talk revenge and justice all he wants. But if Naruto is being honest and frank, he would call Sasuke the biggest moron this village has ever seen. And he's saying that while keeping in mind his damn sensei'

If he has learned anything in his time as a genin, it is something that Iruka, Kakashi, and Jiraiya have beaten into him—and that's teamwork, yeah. Without others to call his bullshit, to tell him he _sucks_ , Naruto wouldn't get stronger. He would get overconfident, jump into stuff way over his head with no hope of succeeding alone, and, well… Being left alone never ends good, does it?

So Sasuke and him should have stayed together. Trained together, as friends, or— _brothers_ —and opponents, there to taunt one another and to set the bar higher and higher, until they're so consumed with being the better ninja they leave everyone way behind...

For that, Sasuke has a brother he hates. And Naruto—well. Naruto has his friends, and the thought of Sasuke to light the way.

But it's never this easy, is it? So this first blow, his best friend leaving him behind, it is devastating, alright? But Naruto cannot, for the life of him, piece the part of the puzzle together. And that part is the image of his sensei. Naruto just never had the chance to learn much about him, and maybe that's the reason...

Maybe that is one of the ways Naruto, and this village, failed his sensei.

Things just don't add up otherwise. Why else would Kakashi leave his _home_ , his family, his _team_ and his _friends_ unless he felt betrayed? Unless they all have failed to keep him here, as someone who is loved and treasured and held dear?

Unless Kakashi, just like Sasuke, has that _thing_ inside that blurs his vision and screws with his mind?

Naruto closes his eyes and forces them shut to the point it starts to hurt. He's heard a doctor talk about things of this sort—bad habits that serve as an easy relief, something self-therapeutical. Doesn't last long, and is also addictive, because once Naruto blinks this hard he feels like that's not enough and he wants to blink again. That's weird. He's weird. He's being a creep. Naruto forces the need out of his mind. This isn't something a shinobi does. For some reason he's sure a bad habit like this could screw things up for him at some point. Naruto has control over this stuff, over his body. He just wants to clear his head, to figure all this out.

To figure his sensei out. Kakashi loved the Icha Icha series, always arse-deep in that damn book, no matter the circumstances. A battlefield? Sure, if it's just Naruto and Sasuke with Sakura working their asses off, they'll be sure to see their sensei too occupied with the book to realize they're about to be devoured by a bloody behemoth. A hospital? Screw fruits and veggies and get-well-soon gift cards, just bring him the novel that's dustiest on the shelf, he hasn't read _that_ one in a month, yeah. Team's day off together? Jokes on you, you won't even see that book. Or their sensei.

But, when abandoning the village, Kakashi leaves all his books behind.

And no matter how much Naruto backtalks his sensei in his head right now, he knows that... All those small gestures, the laziness, the easy trust, the readiness to beat the crap out of Sasuke and him for fighting... The time with Jiraiya showed him what that really is about: Kakashi _cherished_ Team Seven, in his own, timid way—but when leaving, he puts the team's photo fac—

 _He puts the photo face down!_ Naruto yelps at the sudden clue. Surely, he's no shrink from the psych team. But he can figure stuff out when he needs to. Beside him, one of the Ichiraku's patrons jumps in surprise, glaring at Naruto with disapproval.

“I'll be sure to come back and pay you later!” Naruto promises, already meters away from the small restaurant. Hopefully, Teuchi-san won't be too mad at him. After all, the man's even commented on Naruto's visible mental anguish. Naruto only has to figure out what is this thing that has just occurred to him, and then he'll be on his way back, more than a brooding teenager this time!

Naruto rushes through the streets, almost knocking a couple of civilians off their feet and only slowing down enough so his _ough, sorry! excuse me!_ could be heard over the sound of wind rushing in his ears. He leaps high on the rooftops, climbs down several stairs, and here, here somewhere—

Here. That's the place. It's rather desolate and certainly gloomy, but not over the top with its broodiness. A suitable choice for a shinobi, that is. The traps inside Kakashi's apartment had been deactivated when an ANBU team looked through the place, but, according to Sakura, everything else was left intact. Surely Naruto isn't supposed to be here—but is he really breaking in? It's an empty apartment… For now.

Jumping through the window and landing into the not too roomy space, Naruto decides that _for now_ isn't a good option, either. When his sensei comes back, Naruto will make sure he gets to live in a good place. Maybe they will become neighbors, even—that way he'll always be around in case his sensei needs some sense beaten into him again!

Persuading oneself is a great tactic, because it apparently works with Naruto. With his mind a little more at ease, he starts rummaging through the room—it's covered with dust, but it is evident the place was always kept clean when it was lived in. And that's why Naruto finds them—the photos, easy enough. Not just one, but two. The second one is older, withered almost, but all the same cherished. It appears to be Kakashi's team from the time he himself was a genin! Naruto smiles at the discovery, examining the four faces.

The jounin in the picture is leaning down to get in the shot, and is smiling with his eyes squinted. A happy girl so much like Sakura is in the center, with a black-haired boy in goggles on her right and—

Naruto has to put a hand over his mouth to stop the sound that's about to escape, because Kakashi in this one is even worse than Sasuke in their Team Seven photo. Naruto's sensei is showing a unique mixture of _grumpy_ and _deadly_ in this shot, the first childishly overpowering the second.

When taking the photo, Kakashi was dead serious with being unhappy with whatever he was unhappy about.

When the first impression finally subsides, Naruto takes his time to study this one. His sensei doesn't have a scar over his left eye yet, and obviously hasn't acquired his Sharingan as both his eyes are of the same dull grey color. Also Naruto doesn't recognize anyone else in the picture. And that means... With his sensei's belief in the importance of teamwork, it's most likely that they're all... dead.

Come to thing about it, the black-haired boy resembles Sasuke—not too much, but there is obviously a familiarity to their looks. The wild hair, the structure of his face... The photo was taken long before the Uchiha massacre, too. Maybe if Tsunade lets him roam about the archives—him, Naruto! If he asks her to give him access, she'll be too shocked not to.

Naruto resurfaces from his thoughts once he hears the floor creak behind him. An ambush? No way it is—

“Thought you'd come here sooner, to be honest,” Yamato says, sounding raspy, like he hasn't talked in a while. Naruto relaxes, recognizing the voice.

“Sure scared me there, Yamato-taichou,” he tells him, fighting a smile. Even if the man has been following him, Naruto can't really be angry. Doesn't have a reason to, too. He sets the photo down on the table and studies the side of the room carefully. Mr. Ukki is standing there on the windowsill, miserable as all hell and seemingly ready to turn to sand. Naruto picks the plant up. Maybe he can save it from dying, might not be too late for the cactus. “I'll be on my way then, Yamato-taichou,” he says over his shoulder, not turning around to look at the jounin. “Goodnight.” He's not too fond of the idea of talking right now.

He doesn't hear a response from Yamato, too deep in thought. There're so many things to do—and so little time before he's ultimately sent to complete another chore.

No matter how hard he protests, Tsunade-sama refuses to let him investigate Kakashi's trail. It's too dangerous, brat, she told him once, cutting off all his attempts to come up with another reason why she should assign him the mission. As if Kakashi-sensei would try to kill him! He knows better. And if he doesn't, Naruto's training hasn't been in vain, so Kakashi would better rethink his life choices fast...

Naruto stops for a minute to stare off the view of the night village. It's pretty late, Konoha's streets are empty of all its citizens, only a glimpse of chakra indicating that some shinobi are still outside. Tsunade wouldn't be in her office at this hour, but if she is, Naruto's far better off not knowing what caused her to stay late. She'd probably be really angry—not the best time to disturb her.

Deciding to pay her a visit first thing in the morning, Naruto falls into a more moderate pace, walking through the streets lit up by the insides of homes. Konoha's really beautiful at this time, artificial lights giving it a cozy, warming feeling of being home—and making the thought of leaving almost scary. Just thinking where Sasuke or Kakashi are at this very moment is chilling. What if they're somewhere high in the mountains, freezing? Or dead-tired? And alone…

Naruto stops, staring unseeingly at the gravel under his feet. He's home, while his friends are out there—Kami knows where. It isn't fair. No one would choose a life like this without a good reason. Kakashi wouldn't, that's for sure—it isn't like him to even bother, right? Without something else going on.

For the hundredth time deciding that he's not cut out for solving puzzles, Naruto goes home, Mr. Ukki sound in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading!  
> 
> 
> I'm pretty sure there're some typos left, so if you notice anything annoying enough that you remember it after finishing the chapter, please let me know!
> 
> I appreciate all comments, in fact your thoughts help me greatly--if not in writing, then in wanting to write more.  
> 
> 
> I don't promise quick updates as December and the beginning of January would be incredibly busy and stressful, but that stuff is also literal fuel for my need to write (in order to escape, I admit). So please tell me what you think!


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